crowmanz
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[SIZE=10.5pt]Thought I'd make a post about a recent trip to the snow over the school holidays, we had a spare day planned and took it when there was crappy weather. My folks have a house in Tawonga South (Mt Beauty) so I had been grabbing the local Sweetwater Brewing beers from the Foodworks in Mt Beauty that week. Had the IPA, Porter, Summer Ale and the Golden Bitter from the Foodworks. The Golden Bitter was a gusher and tasted like an infection.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]On to the “tour”.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Left Tawonga South heading towards Beechworth and Bridge Road Brewers[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Stopped for a look at Yackandandah, lovely old town where Strange Bedfellows was filmed. Has a cool antique shop and some decent bakery food.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]On to Beechworth, went to the Beechworth Honey place first as we parked out front, pretty cool bee display - didn't have time for the tour as we needed beer and food.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Bridge Road Brewers – the biggest of the three, had the taster plate – $15 for 10 beers (choice of 9 beers on tap and either the cider or the beer from the hand pump – I went with the hand pump which was Chevalier Biere de Garde) – the Porter and “One Autumn Sunday Morning Somewhere Three Hours North of Melbourne” were my highest rated, however if I stayed longer I would have tried the Biere de Garde in a larger size. The pizza was good, grabbed some souvenirs (tee and stubby cooler) and some takeaways (including the India Saison and Chevalier Saison). There was plenty of outdoor tables/seating including a playground for the kids but being the middle of winter it was a touch cold outside.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Next stop was Brown Brothers Winery, the women in our group requested this and it wasn’t too far out of our way. Nice set up; they even had a large chess set on the lawn.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]After this we went to the Milawa Cheese Company, tried some cheeses and had some afternoon tea. They sold Black Dog Brewery beers here so I grabbed the Dead Dog Stout. Next time I want to try to get to the brewery - it was a little far out for this tour. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]From here we headed from Bright Brewery - along the way we drove past some Hop Products Australia Rostrevor Hop Garden. The Brewery is in the prime spot of town, and would be good for families during the day or warmer months as the outdoor area looks over the park and playground. I grabbed the taster plate of 6 beers for $12 (from memory), my favourites being Staircase Porter and Fainters Dubbel. The food looked really good, but we didn’t eat there. They also had a station set up with the raw ingredients for beer, samples of hop cones and pellets and ale/crystal/roast malts – I thought it was a cool touch to show the average punter what goes into beer. Again grabbed a t-shirt and a takeaway of the MIA IPA (I was too early for the Stubborn Russian [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]L[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]).[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Returned home. We didn’t get to Sweetwater brewing on the same day but went on another day off; their Winter Solstice beer was my favourite. Sweetwater is the smallest of the three I visited in the area but still had a cool vibe – they even have the tops of old ski poles and old fishing rods as their tap handles.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]All in all would recommend all three if you are in the area, maybe throw in a few wineries to keep the missus happy too. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]On to the “tour”.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Left Tawonga South heading towards Beechworth and Bridge Road Brewers[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Stopped for a look at Yackandandah, lovely old town where Strange Bedfellows was filmed. Has a cool antique shop and some decent bakery food.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]On to Beechworth, went to the Beechworth Honey place first as we parked out front, pretty cool bee display - didn't have time for the tour as we needed beer and food.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Bridge Road Brewers – the biggest of the three, had the taster plate – $15 for 10 beers (choice of 9 beers on tap and either the cider or the beer from the hand pump – I went with the hand pump which was Chevalier Biere de Garde) – the Porter and “One Autumn Sunday Morning Somewhere Three Hours North of Melbourne” were my highest rated, however if I stayed longer I would have tried the Biere de Garde in a larger size. The pizza was good, grabbed some souvenirs (tee and stubby cooler) and some takeaways (including the India Saison and Chevalier Saison). There was plenty of outdoor tables/seating including a playground for the kids but being the middle of winter it was a touch cold outside.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Next stop was Brown Brothers Winery, the women in our group requested this and it wasn’t too far out of our way. Nice set up; they even had a large chess set on the lawn.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]After this we went to the Milawa Cheese Company, tried some cheeses and had some afternoon tea. They sold Black Dog Brewery beers here so I grabbed the Dead Dog Stout. Next time I want to try to get to the brewery - it was a little far out for this tour. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]From here we headed from Bright Brewery - along the way we drove past some Hop Products Australia Rostrevor Hop Garden. The Brewery is in the prime spot of town, and would be good for families during the day or warmer months as the outdoor area looks over the park and playground. I grabbed the taster plate of 6 beers for $12 (from memory), my favourites being Staircase Porter and Fainters Dubbel. The food looked really good, but we didn’t eat there. They also had a station set up with the raw ingredients for beer, samples of hop cones and pellets and ale/crystal/roast malts – I thought it was a cool touch to show the average punter what goes into beer. Again grabbed a t-shirt and a takeaway of the MIA IPA (I was too early for the Stubborn Russian [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]L[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]).[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Returned home. We didn’t get to Sweetwater brewing on the same day but went on another day off; their Winter Solstice beer was my favourite. Sweetwater is the smallest of the three I visited in the area but still had a cool vibe – they even have the tops of old ski poles and old fishing rods as their tap handles.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]All in all would recommend all three if you are in the area, maybe throw in a few wineries to keep the missus happy too. [/SIZE]
